Ughhh.....

It's hard needing to be creative every day. I feel like my brain is blocked, and I can't come up with any new ideas. It's draining...

quest for inspiration...

I've been in a creative rut lately, so I went to Barnes & Noble for some inspiration. Every once in a while, I go there to flip through the art and design books and peruse the magazines. Most of the design books are expensive, so I don't buy them. However, today I bought a standard book for $25. I couldn't pass up the super cool journals they had. In my college magazine design class, we had to keep a journal of ideas we liked. Maybe doing that will inspire me to jump out of the box. 

Memories

A year ago yesterday, I was at the Indianapolis Zoo with my friends in Indiana. The past few years, we have always done something together on the 4th, be it BBQing for lunch or going to Lake Michigan. I was kind of missing them, but it wasn't a big deal. Before I went to the store this wall of sadness hit me like a brick. July 4th was one of the last times I hung out with my friend Nathan. I wish I had better memories of that time with him, but they are a bit blurry. It makes me feel guilty, like I didn't treasure those times enough. Thankfully, all of my friends take tons of pictures, so I can remember the good times we had at the fireworks show. The small town we went to always had a great show. This year I watched fireworks from the windows at work. They were okay. It just wasn't the same as I'm used to. I'm posting some of the pics I took last year. 

Little girl fun

I headed up to Kansas City this weekend to check out Abby's new swing set. The girl is crazy! She wants to go super high. Mommy taught her underdogs, so I guess we can blame her. The funniest happening was me leaving my purse in her room. She got in trouble for something and was sent to timeout. After a while, my sister forgot about her and was stressed wondering where she was. I reminded Brenda she had sent Abby to timeout a while ago. She ran up the stairs and I heard, "Aunt Lynette, did you leave your purse in Abby's room??!!" Abby was quiet, because she had found my lip gloss and painted all of her toenails. She also unwrapped all of the gum and put it back in the box. I looked at her and said, "Abby, what has aunt Lynette told you about getting in her purse?" With a sad face she said, "No." Then, with her signature grin she said, "Sorry." My sister and I bust a gut laughing. You couldn't help but laugh. She was just so cute!

On Monday, we made a Target run and had Chick-fil-a. The only one here is on the WSU campus, so I was happy they built one four blocks from my sister's house. I'll be getting nuggets every time I visit. After chicken, we headed to a free children's farm in Olathe. Abby had been there before, but she still loved running around and feeding the goats. The girl LOVES animals.  She also loves going down slides. I tried to not act like an overprotective mother since this is first time I've taken her by myself for an adventure. She enjoyed the water area, where I had to remind her to stop splashing strangers. The only way I could get her out was by suggesting we get a treat. One bag of fruit snacks later we were headed home. After her nap in the car we played with the magic pills we got at Target. Remember those things you put in water and they turn into foam animals.....she was fascinated by them. She did all 15 of them before my sister got home from work. 

Mmmmm.....yummy

Had a vanilla shake here for the first time. It gives Ritter's in Indiana a run for it's money. We don't have any Steak & Shakes here, but Freddy's burgers are pretty similar. 

Long time no post

I've been obsessed with facebook lately, so I haven't posted anything on here. I'm finally getting back into my normal groove after two traveling weekends. I helped out in the office at church this week and started (aka, didn't get very far) a student ministry brochure. I'll try and post PDFs of the other two things I've made, but I may just have to take pics of them. 

On Memorial Day I hung out with my friend Julie and her family. Her 5-year-old daughter Rachel is my buddy. We had great girly time playing Disney princess checkers and painting fingernails. I also got in a little Wii action. I'm a bit rusty since I haven't played in eight months! Yes, that's how long I've been here. It's hard to believe. 

Well, I suppose I should get ready and run a few errands before work. I need to go in early to work on a nasty, huge tab chart. For those of you designers reading this, you know how evil that is. 

Back home and back to work

Wow....what an emotional, tiring, yet fun weekend I had in Chattanooga. My friend Nathan's funeral was a beautiful celebration of his life. It was the first time in almost four years that all of my Indiana and Tennessee friends were together. While there were some tears, we had a great time hanging out at some Chattanooga hot spots. Ruth took a gazillion pics of us goofing around downtown after the viewing. It was such a great release after a heavy evening. We made a late-night run to Krystal's one of Nathan's favorite places to eat. The weather was beautiful for the funeral, and the church  made a wonderful meal for all of us. We all rested a little then enjoyed some Sticky Fingers BBQ before heading back downtown for Clumpy's ice cream. The highlight was the fountain. I didn't run through it, but Ruth's niece got totally drenched. We all frolicked around and then listened to the guys play their guitars. Sunday we all met at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and our farewells. 

On the plane ride home I met former Dallas Cowboys and OU coach Barry Switzer. He looked familiar, and then I saw his massive Super Bowl ring. We had a nice chat about sports and his career. One of my sister's co-workers can't believe I didn't get his autograph. I didn't want to be like the people who are in awe when they meet a celebrity. There were plenty of people who had already recognized him. It's funny, because I had hoped I'd see someone like Nicole Kidman or Carrie Underwood in the Nashville airport. I didn't expect to meet a sports icon.